Although the sun sets earlier these days, people are still wanting to enjoy their backyard into the late hours of the night. No matter what you primarily use your backyard for, if there isn’t any light that enhances your deck, patio and landscaping, it makes it hard to enjoy those nicer nights outdoors.

A well-lit backyard is much more likely to be used by the family, even in the cooler weather - and now is the perfect time to update your home’s backyard with efficient lighting options.

There are a range of alfresco lighting options out there, all of which will help bring a warm glow to your evenings outside. Let’s discuss what alfresco lighting options are available and what would work best for your residential property.

Light Up Walkways

You can really enhance your landscaping aesthetics by having well lit paths around your property. It’s not only easier to see where you’re going, it makes everything look incredible during the night.

There are a few different lighting options for this: LED lights, solar outdoor lights and lights that require being plugged into an electrical socket. If your outdoor lights require electricity, we recommend taking a bit of time to compare power companies online, so you can ensure you’re getting the best deal out there on any power you use.

Landscape Spotlights

While it’s one thing to have a well groomed and stunning looking landscape, it’s a whole other thing to actually be able to enjoy that attention to detail during the night. With landscape spotlights, you’re able to highlight certain areas of your backyard and create great looking focal points throughout your property.

Candle Lanterns

Using candle lanterns is a great way to add lighting to your landscape. They can illuminate decks, porches, patios and pools with a truly sophisticated ambience. They are very easy to find and are available in a huge range of shapes, styles and colours.

Just be sure to clean your lanterns regularly, and don’t leave candles in them on a hot day - or else you’ll come home to a pool of wax in them.

Downlighting

This is a great form of lighting to highlight a large surface area. Downlighting happens when a light is placed at an elevated location and pointed downwards, which then highlights the large area. It adds a truly beautiful effect and looks similar to the moonlight glow.

You don’t necessarily have to stick to one particular type of alfresco lighting - you can mix and match a range of options and really make the most out of lighting up your backyard. Regardless of what outdoor lighting options you decide to go with, if you’re using electricity to run any of them, we recommend you use our online energy comparison tool. You can use it to compare power providers and make sure you’re getting the best power deals, so that your new outdoor lighting doesn’t have a huge impact on your next electricity bill.

Once you’ve found the best lightening options, you might still be thinking about other ways to save on electricity. One simple thing you can do, which can potentially save you hundreds of dollars on your power bill each year, is to compare electricity rates from local providers.